welcome to the morning after
by Broken Antler in Winter
Summary: And, don't you see? This is what happens to robins when there are no heroes to save them. (The morning after Dick Grayson kills, it's raining, but Lady Gotham's always smiling.) AU one-shot, nobody dies, but you might wish somebody did. (PS. I disclaim.)


**welcome to the morning after**

_you always thought heroes were born and bred_

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><p>We've never been good storytellers, but we can give you this: there's a golden boy who kills, a knight who flies alone, and a city that's always been burning. Maybe it's only the last part that's never changed.<p>

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><p>"So, are you gonna arrest me or what?" Dick's drunk, but he can still hear Batman's presence. And Batman's presence means nothing for criminals like him, but the darkness of a trap. No escape.<p>

Batman steps forward. "Am I?"

"That's what you do to criminals" Dick says with a hint of a slur, smashing his beer on the wall. He turns to Batman with a smile. "Well? get on with it."

"You believe you are a criminal. Is this what you want? For me to arrest you and for you to rot in prison for the rest of your life? You could plead insanity under the influence of Scarecrow's drugs. You can change the rest of your life." It almost makes him laugh. This man only knew him from his alter ego (a vigilante and a might-have-been thief), and wants to _reform _him?

"No. You said it once, didn't you? Once you cross the line, you can never look back. Well, I crossed that little imaginary line. I murdered Tony Zucco, and I _enjoyed _it." Shouldn't that be enough? It's always been a simple difference between heaven and hell. He killed someone. He regrets it. And he can never take it back. "I shouldn't have killed him, but _he had it coming._ And if I wouldn't dirty my hands, good for me. Let another family die."

"You were not in control of your actions."

He laughed. "How do _you_ know that? I'd been planning it for ten years."

"I know."

"I told you once I'd make you lose. You have lost, Bats. But, of course, I lose too." The sound of another bottle shattering.

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><p>There are probably hundreds of thousands of people in Gotham, already drunk by sunrise. The morning after, there are hundreds of thousands and one.<p>

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><p>And, don't you see? This is what happens to robins when there are no heroes to save them.<p>

(For, ten years ago, there was a boy whose parents died and was never taken in by a man named Bruce Wayne.

Ten years ago, even Batman fails to save a life, once in a while.)

He fights for their memory, and he doesn't even remember what they look like anymore.

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><p>Seven months ago, there's a new vigilante in Gotham, with a daredevil's smile and a suit of dark blue. He flies through the city, and not all trails of blood need dead bodies.<p>

He plays a dangerous game, and he promises the Bat will lose.

_("You want to try to change me? Kiss my ass.")_

Batman found him, changed him, he was going to _redeem _himself and _all _of that. He learns Bruce Wayne's name and life and story and _this man understands (except there's always been a difference between the rich brats and the street rats and the circus spats with two blur to one and there's always been a bridge you will never cross)_.

Dammit, he even falls in love, with a _librarian_. Her hair is like fire and her eyes are like emeralds and he's never claimed to have been good at English, but he knows she is beautiful _(and if she was plain that wouldn't make an ounce of a difference because there's that look in her eyes that's got you hooked and it's intangible, flaming, and never yours to begin with)._

The Hero's Journey. The Making of a Hero. It's the tale that's been played again and again and no one ever gets tired.

For the first time in ten years, he has a direction, so he takes it and he drives it and he knowsknowsknows that everything is going to be alright. After all, there's only that much bad luck he can have before life turns around.

Of course, nothing in his life works out quite the way he expects.

Shit happens.

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><p>You see, there's this one moment where Batman thinks he isn't, he isn't going to do this (and Bruce Wayne's always been good at trusting to easily even when he swears he never does and there's this soft spot for orphans and for-).<p>

You see, there's this one moment where Dick Grayson thinks that he won't, he won't do this (and he's never had remarkable self-control, and that's why everything spirals and spirals and on the ground and he could have had that life-).

The turning point.

We wonder too, what would have happened if the gun clattered on the ground.

(You read it in a book once: 'Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.')

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><p>The morning after the first day Dick Grayson kills (really, <em>really <em>kills), it's raining, but Lady Gotham's always smiling.

So, this is what we have for you. No introduction, no rising action, no climax, and no resolution.

It's nice to think that life works another way (even if the truth is rarely so kind).

We've never been good storytellers, but we've always been good at picking the tragedies.

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><p><em>and now all your golden boys are dead. <em>

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><p><strong>AN: heh. heh. heh. no apologies. review?<strong>


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